Inch by Inch

The kitchen burst into motion. Jay froze.

An attack. Oddities were coming to attack the caravan. Some kind of hostile creature, monster or force was coming to attack them.

Around the kitchen people began to pack up. Equipment was stowed away whether or not it was clean. It happened quickly. Everyone’s motions were rushed, but practiced.

Jay, however, was still frozen.

Oddities. Hostile Oddities. What did he do? He knew what to do. He knew that he should be following the plan, but... but what was the plan here?

The kitchen needed to be packed up. The cutlery he’d been cleaning stowed away. The water drained from the sink. Jay was a runner, an extra hand, spare labor. This was his job.

But...

His job was also standing watch. Ana, Kane and he worked several positions in the caravan, and standing night watch while armed was one of them. Him, armed with his spear. Kane armed with his sword.

Ana. Kane. His job before this kitchen, before this caravan, was to be an Adventurer. To lead his team.

Everything clicked.

Time was short. Jay reached forward into the sink, driving his hand past all the cutlery. He ignored the sharp metal, and the scratches along his arm as the contents of the basin protested the movement. He stretched down until he could feel the wooden stopper beneath his fingers. It came loose with a quick pull, and he yanked his hand back. The cutlery’s teeth were just as sharp on the way out as on the way in. Now empty, the sink could wait until someone else had time to deal with it.

He turned and scanned the kitchen. The moment a gap in the chaos appeared, Jay strode forward, pausing only to push the stopper into the hands of another runner.

“Take over from me.”

Without waiting for a response from the scrambling runner, Jay rushed to the entrance hatch. He flew through the giant wagon, taking the shortest route to where Ana, Kane and he kept their belongings. While he ran, he planned.

Ana was with the Laundry and Seamstress department after lunch, Kane with the Maintenance and Loading. Laundry was on the rear left side of the wagon, where they could dump waste water without issue. Maintenance was found at the top of the front of the wagon, allowing fast access to everywhere. Usually it would be easiest to get to the Laundry — a door in the side of the wagon made the trip all about sliding down a ladder, however with an attack incoming that door would be sealed. Jay would have to use only the internal routes, and that changed things. The best path from their quarters was to go up a floor and check on Kane in Maintenance on his way to the central ladder down to Laundry. It was the fastest route. The most efficient.

Jay turned sideways to shimmy past a woman passing the other way. This was a narrow one-way path, designed only for messages and not for two people or anyone going the way he was. People would complain, but this was an emergency.

One more turn and he came face to face with the end of the passage. A narrow hole in the roof led up to the next floor and the only link between them was a pole in the center. It was made from smooth wood to reduce friction when sliding down. Wood smooth enough to make climbing the pole a challenge.

Good thing Jay didn’t plan on climbing it.

He took one second to quickly look above, scan for any boots heading his way, before shouting “Coming up!”

Jay crouched, tensing his legs.

3.03 m. It was a small detail. Minute really. Something he’d noticed only because his mind forced him to when he’d first seen this corridor. One side of the deck above was lower than the other, only 3.03 m off the floor where he stood. Twelve centimeters lower than the other side. A major fault in the construction that made the floor above close enough for him to reach.

He jumped. His hands swung up. Stretching. Wood. Wood under his fingers. Planks worn down from hundreds of feet running and skidding to a halt in this very spot to slow down before the pole. All the friction over the years had worn the floorboard unevenly, not enough that Maintenance would ever be called down, but sometimes millimeters mattered. His grip solidified, tightening on the groove worn into the floor. Jay pulled, swinging his legs to give him a little momentum. His head was at floor level. Then his shoulders. From there it was easy. With his feet against the pole behind him, he pushed his body onto the upper floor.

Jay took a moment to catch his breath before rushing down the corridor for the next ladder. He couldn’t make the same jump again and there were two more floors to go.

The door was open when Jay arrived. He ran inside, catching the door frame to slow him as he came to a halt.

“Here,” Kane said, holding Jay’s spear out.

He took it and gave a nod while trying to catch his breath. Maybe he should have Ana running the length and height of the wagon. At speed it was a good workout.

Kane inspected him, eyes lingering on the cuts along Jay’s arm before turning his attention back to his task. He was in the midst of cinching the open sides of a hard leather vest – armor that Jay hadn’t seen him wearing before. Where his teammate had been hiding it with so little luggage, Jay didn’t know.

Now, with a moment to consider, it was clear that shoving his arm into a cistern full of cutlery was perhaps not the most intelligent thing to do. Jay might have overreacted and rushed a little. Something else was bugging him though. He just couldn’t figure out what.

“Need help?” he asked. There was time. If Kane was here, then he didn’t need to go by Maintenance. He could head directly to Laundry.

Kane shook his head, still tying up his armor. “What about Ana?”

“I haven’t seen her,” he said, scanning the other bundle he’d brought with him on board. It contained a shortbow and five arrows. Shaking his head, he discarded that thought. There hadn’t been time to practice. None of them knew how to use a bow. It was better to leave it. “I’ll head down to Laundry now to check on her.”

Kane hummed, looking down at his waist and then at Jay. “I’ll go. You head topside and start getting organized. We’ll join you there.”

Jay blinked at him in surprise. “You sure?”

Kane nodded and with a tug, finished securing his armor.

Jay turned and ran, slower now to prevent his spear from catching on anything or worse, anyone. As he hurried down the corridor it came to him. It was a small change, but it stuck out.

Kane had been focused, present. There was no nonsense in his actions or tone. It wasn’t that this behavior was strange for Kane, the opposite really. The focused, dedicated Kane was the Kane that Jay knew.

So who was the Kane that had been with Jay over the last few days?

| i i i ¦ i i i | i i i ¦ i i i |

When Jay stuck his head out the top of the wagon, he wasn’t the first to arrive, but wasn’t the last either. Scrambling up the last of the ladder, he headed to the familiar face organizing the ranks of his fellow watchmen.

Tasia stood towards the rear of the wagon roof, shouting orders with the wagon’s three adventurers flanking her. The trio looked harsh and cruel in their metal armor next to Tasia’s soft face and wavy clothes. They were a balanced group, even with the other half of their team on another wagon. One archer for range, one polearm for melee and a shieldman to secure their center. There weren’t enough adventuring teams in the convoy to have one per wagon, so the trio’s, the largest, had been split in two.

This morning having three adventurers to protect the wagon seemed fine to Jay. Now he wasn’t so sure.

A few nights ago he had attempted to approach them, hoping that the shared wagon would allow him to get some details about the adventuring scene in Lauchia, the caravan’s city state destination, or if he was lucky, some tips from the archer about his own bow, but they were uninterested in conversation. They wouldn’t even tell him their guild’s name.

Tasia saw him coming before he’d gotten more than a few steps from the ladderway. Her piercing gaze made him itch.

“Jay,” she barked. “Status of Kane and Ana?”

“On their way. Kane has a hard cuirass and a short sword,” he reported back, still making his way over. Hopefully that was all the information she needed. For all the wagon’s training about encounters, status checks before a fight had not been covered.

To Jay’s relief, the ‘peeling’ feeling of Tasia’s gaze eased as she judged his answer sufficient. It then lifted completely as her eyes left him and scanned the wagon roof.

“Move to the forward left wheel. Prepare for oddities approaching from the left rear.”

“Yes, Supervisor.”

Jay dodged and weaved across the roof, avoiding the congested ladderways wherever possible until he reached his designated spot. It looked like the three of them wouldn’t be alone here, a few other watchmen stood at the ready, and they would be guarding one of the wagon’s thoroughfares.

Each side of the towering wagons had three main thoroughfares on either side of the wagon for vertical passage. The center thoroughfare was the main one, with short stairs built in to facilitate the moving and loading of heavier goods. It was also to be the most defended part of the wagon. The other two thoroughfares, one behind the rear wheels and one in front of the fore wheels, were more for people and workers to move about quickly. Instead of walkable stairs, the wagon had a series of levels connected by ladders, almost like steps for a giant.

Jay placed a hand on the rail along the edge of the wagon roof and leaned forward. The wind rushed past as he did, sending a shiver down his spine.

It was a long way down. Several stories to the ground. He leaned back immediately, wiping a now sweaty hand off on his shirt as he did.

Tasia was placing a fair bit of trust in his team, assigning them to one of the six thoroughfares. Especially since their wagon was at the rear of the caravan, and the closest to where the Oddities were coming from — not that Jay expected much fighting to happen. It was an easily defended position, up here so far above the ground. Still, Tasia’s display of confidence in them put a smile on Jay’s face. He leaned over the side once more. They were nearly twenty meters off the ground, 18.63m to be exact.

Surely few Oddities could be this tall.

| i i i ¦ i i i | i i i ¦ i i i |

Everyone held their breath as the scouts split up, each heading for an individual wagon to deliver news of what Oddities approached the caravan. Of all adventurers, scouts in particular needed to have a Word that allowed you to move. It showed as the scout heading to Jay’s wagon jogged faster than Jay had ever sprinted. Before they reached the wagon, they leapt, hands stretching out for one of the rear ladders.

If Jay had been impressed before, he knew his mouth was hanging open now. In the time it took him to blink his eyes twice, the scout was on the top of the wagon.

Scouts were the highest paid adventurers in the caravan, second only to the head adventurer who managed them all. It was a dangerous job, delving out into the unknown. You could never know what you would find next, and Oddities were unpredictable in their appearance. High risk, high reward. Roaming alone allowed you to reap the benefits of a positive Oddity, a miracle, but benefits were only useful if you could avoid getting reaped yourself.

Behind Jay, Ana shifted, staring futilely through the crowd towards where the scout was no doubt giving a report to Tasia. After delivering that, the scout would likely be resting for the entire fight — unless things went very badly. As soon as the battle was over, the scouts would head out again.

“What’s taking so long?” Ana murmured, stretching her hands anxiously.

Jay could sympathize with her tension. The spear in his hands was helping to keep him steady. Ana wasn’t the only one standing at the top of the wagon without a weapon, but she was likely the least experienced. Some workers were up here to act as messengers. Others, to pull people back for medical attention. A few, like Ana, were there to pick up other’s weapons if they fell and take their place.

Beside them, Kane was as still as a stone, staring back the direction the scouts had come without a word. This was the Kane that Jay knew, rigid and unbending.

“Swarm Oddities,” Tasia bellowed, her practiced voice carrying across the wagon top. “Unintelligent, but they have been following us for some time.”

Jay took a moment to consider the words. He pictured a horde of small green humanoids overflowing from the woods behind them and overrunning the wagon. He turned. “Kane, you will take the lead for now. Your sword will be of more use against a swarm. I’ll attack from the side and knock as many off the wagon as I can. Ana, be ready to step in and take over from either of us.”

Kane nodded, and turned back to watching the woods again.

Ana was more hesitant. “But what can I do if an oddity takes one of you out?”

Jay gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile. “We’ll likely just be tired. We could be fighting a swarm for quite a while. Just–remember to not use your Word. You can’t do that around the wagon.”

Ana scowled. Her distaste for Vasily’s restrictions hadn’t weakened with time.

Jay took it as a victory. Anger was better than nervousness. He turned and followed Kane’s gaze into the woods. The time passed slowly as they waited. Until it didn’t.

“They’re here,” Kane announced, lowering his hand to the hilt of the blade strapped to his waist.

Jay stared. He squinted. He blinked his eyes a few times to clear them. Nothing. “I don’t see anything.”

Similar murmuring started around them as the other watchmen came to the same conclusion.

Kane said nothing, just nodding in the direction they were staring.

Jay squinted again.

After thirty seconds of nothing, the surrounding murmuring became disgruntled. People who had been preparing relaxed. Weapons were placed back down. Jay was sure he heard someone whisper ‘Dozy’.

Jay frowned. Kane may have made a mistake, but it was better to have a false alarm than no alarm at all. Chatter within the wagon must have been getting worse if people were so quick to-

Movement.

Jay blinked, widening his eyes to try and make out more. Slight movement became blue streaks. “The Oddities are here!”

More grumbling, but it quieted fast as the blue streaks became a flood.

“Ow,” Jay muttered, rubbing his head. The eye strain from trying to make out the creatures was giving him a headache. From so far away, the creatures were tiny of course, but he knew that wasn’t quite right.

“Spherical. About... one point... two... Ow. 1.24 meters across,” Jay murmured, shaking his head to try to get rid of the lingering pain.

“Louder.”

“Huh?” Jay looked at Kane. “What was that?”

Kane indicated with his head to the wagon top behind them. “Say it louder.”

“Oh.” Jay blinked. That was useful information, wasn’t it? The scouts had seen the creatures but who knows from how close. He cleared his throat and shouted.

“The oddities are sphere shaped. 1.24m tall.”

He wasn’t as practiced at projecting his voice as Tasia, but someone further down the line took up the call themselves, passing it on. Kane gave him a short nod and went back to staring at the approaching flood.

Jay was conflicted. That had been helpful, but for some reason, he didn’t like it. Something about the whole thing felt wrong. Shaking himself he tried to follow Kane’s example and concentrate. It was probably just the Oddities’ size. No one liked fighting creatures nearly as large as they were. It was too fair a fight against an endless enemy. It was the kind of fight that got people killed. He tightened his grip on his spear until his knuckles turned white.

As the flood approached, they were able to make out more details. The oddities ranged from about 1.1 to 1.4 meters tall. Spherical in shape, their bodies consisted of a thick core, thirty centimeters across with tens of... arms? limbs? reaching out from that core. The limbs were all the same length, thin poles spiked at the end. Every single part of these oddities was the exact same shade of blue.

The best way he could describe the creature was as a rolling football with tens of giant nails sticking out of it.

They were weird.

They were really weird.

Jay peeled his eyes away for a second to whisper to one of the older watchmen beside them. “Oddities aren’t normally like this are they?”

The watchman, an older man with leathery brown skin and a lot of weight around his stomach, gave him a knowing smile. “They aren’t normally like anything, kid. But... these are a mite on the funky side.”

They didn’t have any more time to speak before the oddities reached the wagon.

A spiky blue sphere rolled across the ground, moving at a fair pace. It was the first, barely 5.82m ahead of the next, and rolled towards the middle of the wagon. It bounced, picking up a little more speed and...

Crossed straight through the gap between the wheels.

The next followed. A dozen oddities later, one hit the wheel, but just stopped in its tracks, stuck into the wooden spoke and doing little else. More and more flooded around the wagon until the wagon looked like it floated above a river.

“Huh,” Jay said, breaking the hush that had fallen as they all watched the oddities mill around below. A few of the creatures at the front of the wagon broke off, heading for the next wagon in line. The majority stayed. “I guess that’s that then?”

The older watchman beside him gave a wan smile. “Don’t slack off without the order. Oddities are rarely simple.”

Jay nodded, accepting the gentle rebuke. All around them, everyone straightened a little.

Two minutes later, it was looking like their vigilance was for nothing. The oddities continued to flow in, packing the crowd below the wagon in denser and denser. They were endless. Some continued to stream towards the other wagons, but never as many as were arriving. People began to relax, and the warnings to focus began to stop. Behind Jay, on the side opposite the oddities approach, there was laughter.

This was, of course, when things started to go wrong.